Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable noninvasive inspection device, particularly to a portable noninvasive inspection device, which applies to optical inspection, and whose filters can be switched to meet different requirements.
Description of the Related Art
With advance of inspection technology, there have been various devices for medical inspection in the market. The physicians can diagnose the patents, referring to the inspection results of the inspection devices. The current inspection technology will be described with the exemplification of oral cavity inspection below.
In the current oral cavity inspection technology, the lesion is inspected optically and then biopsied in vivo for microscopic inspection to verify the diagnosis. The conventional oral cavity inspection process is pretty complicated. Further, as the conventional inspection equipment includes a microscope, it is bulky and inconvenient to carry about. Besides, the conventional inspection equipment is invasive to oral tissue and likely to cause physical and psychological discomfort to the testee.
Some handheld devices have been developed to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional inspection devices. For an example, Catherine F. Poh, et al. proposed in Paper 1 “Direct Fluorescence Visualization of Clinically Occult High-Risk Oral Premalignant Disease Using a Simple Hand-Held Device”, wherein ultraviolet light is projected onto a target tissue of a testee, and the tester observes the target tissue through a central visualization channel. The prior-art device needs a power cable connected with the device body. Further, the prior-art device cannot store image data but requires the tester to diagnose the target tissue on the spot. For another example, Pierre M. Lane, et al. proposed in Paper 2 “Simple Device for the Direct Visualization of Oral-Cavity Tissue Fluorescence”, wherein a special spectrum of light is emitted by a light source and conducted to the handheld device by optical fiber and then projected onto the target tissue by a lens module. For a further example, Nicholas B. MacKinnon proposed in a US patent 2006/6,110,106A1 a handheld device structure, which is applied to VELscope Vx (a product of the Velscope company), wherein the power supply and the light source are integrated with the handheld device to convenience operation. The prior-art device does not allow the tester to change the filter in the observation channel but still requires the tester to diagnose the target tissue on the spot.
In all the abovementioned conventional inspection devices, the filter is installed in the central visualization channel. In such a scenario, the tester is inconvenient to replace the filter for observing the fluorescent response of the target tissue under a different spectrum of light. Therefore, the present invention proposes a portable noninvasive inspection device to overcome the abovementioned problems.